January another slow month for auto sales

Add comment March 1st, 2010 01:01pm Alex Gary

There is no economic recovery yet in the automotive sales business as January’s car sales registration figures showed activity continuing a historic plunge.

In January, there were just 3,460 cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans registered after purchase. That was just slightly less than the 3,474 registered in December, but it was nearly 32 percent fewer than the 5,057 registered in January 2009.

Tracking registrations is a good but imperfect way to gauge the auto industry. When  a person buys a new or used vehicle, they are required to register it with the state. The state tracks where the vehicle is registered so if someone buys a car in Naperville but registers it in Belvidere, it counts as a Boone County registration.

The pain in January was equal for both new and used car dealers. Used car sales registrations were down 31.7 percent and new car registrations were off 30.6 percent.

The new vehicle registrations were the lowest monthly total the Register Star has data for, dating back to the beginning of 2005.

Here is a look at the month-by-month totals back to the beginning of 2007.

Month, year             used            new          total

January, 2007        4,944           1,019       5,963

February, 2007      5,484           1,201       6,685

March, 2007          6,355           1,588       7,943

April, 2007            6,016           1,254        7,270

May, 2007            5,798           1,521        7,319

June, 2007            5,602           1,443        7,045

July, 2007             4,865           1,219        6,084

August, 2007        4,931           1,325        6,256

Sept. 2007           4,679           1,258        5,937

Oct. 2007            4,819           1,177        5,996

Nov. 2007           4,321           1,119        5,440

Dec. 2007           3,483              975        4,458

January, 2008      4,558           1,086       5,644

February, 2008   5,218            1,159       6,377

March, 2008       5,459            1,465       6,924

April, 2008         5,862            1,486       7,348

May, 2008         5,476            1,439       6,915

June, 2008         5,359             1,301       6,660

July, 2008          5,315             1,209       6,524

August, 2008     5,426             1,248       6,674

Sept. 2008         4,811             1,129      5,940

Oct. 2008          4,186               699       4,885

Nov. 2008         3,954               689       4,643

Dec. 2008          3,297              730       4,027

Jan. 2009          4,306               751        5,057

Feb. 2009         4,939               690        5,629

March 2009      4,823               884        5,707

April 2009         4,677              728        5,405

May 2009         4,957            1,026        5,983

June 2009         4,987            1,315        6,302

July 2009          4,582            1,152        5,734

August, 2009    4,136            1,199        5,335

Sept. 2009        3,939              547         4,486

Oct. 2009         3,942              671         4,613

Nov. 2009        3,056              606         3,662

Dec. 2009         2,880             594          3,474

Jan. 2010          2,939             521          3,460

Cookie sales are big business

Add comment February 23rd, 2010 10:50am Alex Gary

At businesses throughout the country, boxes and boxes of Girl Scout cookies are showing up.

The annual sale is fun and the cookies are good, but make no mistake, the sale is big business.

A look at the IRS 990s of the Girls Scouts — Rock River Valley Council shows how much.

In 2008, the local Girl Scout groups had $1.59 million revenue and $900,000 of it came from the annual cookie sales.

From the ‘no duh’ category

Add comment February 22nd, 2010 04:30pm Alex Gary

We get literally countless emails, most not worth reading and quickly sent to the delete file.

This one caught my eye. The FDIC sent out a news release titled “FDIC Calls Upon Consumers to Save and Build Wealth.”

The stuff sent out by the FDIC usually is useful, but this is similar to an email from the police department to the public saying “quit breaking the law.”

Once I got past the headline, the news release was OK. The FDIC was hyping “America Saves Week,” where the FDIC is enocouraging people to open a basic savings account or put more money into an existing one. In 2009, the personal savings rate rose from 2.7 percent in 2008 to 4.6 in 2009.

New homes still not selling

Add comment February 16th, 2010 01:21pm Alex Gary

The residential construction market won’t bounce back until the area’s volume builders clear out inventory and the bargain-hunting public is not helping.

January was the slowest month yet for newly built homes. The numbers below aren’t perfect. Gambino Homes of Rockford sells its houses through a trust so those sales aren’t included. Still, the numbers are strikingly bad. The statistics are based on a Register Star database of recorded sales in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties.

Month, year        sales      median price

January, 2007     106           $199,393

February, 2007    84            $194,125

March, 2007       89            $187,377

April, 2007         109           $178,900

May, 2007         109           $161,700

June, 2007         165           $184,679

July, 2007          133           $178,900

August, 2007     149           $176,300

Sept., 2007        111          $181,891

Oct. 2007          132          $181,423

Nov. 2007         104          $167,825

Dec., 2007          84           $207,324

January, 2008      59           $170,300

Feb., 2008          39            $197,725

March, 2008        40          $188,865

April, 2008          66           $178,573

May, 2008          71           $179,000

June, 2008          74            $169,400

July, 2008           53            $192,000

August, 2008      50            $199,450

Sept. 2008          55            $175,000

Oct. 2008           44            $174,000

Nov. 2008          35            $187,500

Dec. 2008          52             $194,194

January 2009      19             $179,000

Feb. 2009          19             $179,130

March 2009       21             $178,900

April 2009          27             $156,900

May 2009           21            $154,038

June 2009           30            $209,654

July 2009            28            $186,450

August 2009        33           $149,650

Sept. 2009          30           $150,050

Oct. 2009           25            $140,000

Nov. 2009          30            $144,950

Dec. 2009          27             $146,888

Jan. 2010           12             $168,278

Home sales up third straight month, according to Register Star data

Add comment February 15th, 2010 04:27pm Alex Gary

There were 237 recorded home and condominium sales in January, according to a Register Star real estate database that tracks recordings from Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties.

That topped January 2008’s total of 235 sales. It marked the third straight month recorded sales topped the same month of the prior year.

Two weeks ago, the Realtors association reported January sales well below January 2008 sales. The Realtors’ data only includes sales that involved at least one member of the association. The Register Star’s data includes all sales, including foreclosures and homes sold through estates.

January’s median sales price of $98,000 was nearly 13 percent below last January’s median price of $112,500. Median prices have declined 11 of the past 12 months because the flood of foreclosures continues unabated. In January, more than 30 percent of the houses sold were from banks, mortgage companies or other lending organizations such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sales tax crunch eases — for some

Add comment February 10th, 2010 12:01pm Alex Gary

The amount of sales tax revenue flowing back to area municipalities declined year-over-year for the 16th straight month in November, further straining municiple budgets that already have holes from declines in other kinds of taxes.

The news wasn’t bad for everyone though, as some municipalities actually reported increases.

Overall, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, retailers in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties generated $3.48 million in sales tax revenue. In November 2008, retailers generated $3.75 million in sales tax revenue.

Roughly $1 of every $100 spent in a municipality comes back in sales tax revenue.

The pain wasn’t equal. Boone County sales tax revenue was down 21.4 percent in Novembe year-over-year, while revenue was off just 6 percent in Winnebago County and 2 percent in Ogle County.

Loves Park received $305,208 back in sales tax, up nearly 5 percent from November 2008. It marked the first time since July 2008 that revenue didn’t decline for that city. Rockton, Roscoe and South Beloit all received revenue increases as well. Rockford’s revenue was down more than 9 percent.

In Ogle County, while Rochelle, Oregon and Byron declined, most of the rest of the smaller villages, Forreston, Leaf River, Mount Morris, Polo and Stillman Valley saw increases.

Month        Total sales tax revenue, 2008      sales tax revenue 2009        Percent change

November             $3,745,010                              $3,475,979                     -7.2%

October                $3,656,433                              $3,356,466                      -8.2%

September            $3,968,165                              $3,471,139                     -12.5%

August                  $4,175,362                              $3,525,229                     -15.6%

July                       $4,193,068                              $3,510,206                     -16.3%

June                      $4,275,491                              $3,738,128                     -12.6%

May                      $4,220,291                              $3,662,482                     -13.2%

April                     $3,925,751                              $3,500,913                     -10.8%

March                   $3,987,814                             $3,634,533                       -8.9%

February               $3,600,998                             $3,097,072                      -14.0%

January                 $3,527,697                             $3,192,871                       -9.5%

Source: Illinois Department of Revenue

Sales levels still not enough for full Chrysler production

Add comment February 9th, 2010 01:22pm Alex Gary

Dealers worldwide ordered more Dodge Calibers, Jeep Compasses and Jeep Patriots than workers at the plant produced in January, but sales levels still aren’t at levels to support two shifts of full production.

In January, workers produced 8,668 Calibers, Compasses and Patriots in the final two weeks of January. The plant was closed the first two weeks. Dealers worldwide ordered 9,749 of the Belvidere-built trio.

That marked the second straight month that dealer orders outpaced production, but Chrysler has cut way back on hours at the plant. And the sales levels is not near where it needs to be to keep the plant — and all of the supplier operations — running on two shifts.

Looking at past months when the plant was operating on two shifts for full months shows that the plant can turn out between 22,000 and 27,000 vehicle. Sales worldwide have hit 20,000 just once in the past 18 months and that was in July 2009 during the U.S. government’s cash-for-clunkers program.

Month, year             production         worldwide sales

January, 2010             8,668                   9,749

December, 2009       12,065                 14,395

November, 2009       11,152                  7,372

October, 2009          11,132                  7,992

September, 2009      10,703                  7,292

August, 2009            11,276                12,354

July, 2009                  1,825                 25,481

June, 2009                        0                 12,458

May, 2009                    328                 11,224

April, 2009                 6,450                 10,708

March, 2009              7,476                 12,979

February, 2009          7,450                 11,251

January, 2009            4,752                 10,262

Sources: Chrysler Group LLC, Register Star data desk

Manufacturing still butters the Rock River Valley bread

Add comment February 4th, 2010 06:31pm Alex Gary

A reporter on one of our internal committees asked me if we could quantify the most important industries by jobs.

I said an easier way may be to quantify the industries by compenstation. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis does a great job of it.

The BEA’s 2008 figures are out and — surprise — manufacturing still pays most of the bills in Boone, Ogle and Winnebago counties.

In 2008, the BEA estimates there was $8.9 billion in total compensation paid to Rock River Valley residents. Here are the top 17 industries by compensation and the portions of the overall pie.

Industry                                  compensation     pctg.

Manufacturing                         $2.56 billion     28.8%

Health care                             $1.16 billion     13.1%

Government                           $1.11 billion     12.4% (I believe this includes public school districts)

Retail trade                             $559.5 million    6.3%

Construction                          $535.7 million     6.0%

Finance/ins.                            $453.2 million     5.1%

Administrative                        $408.7 million     4.6% (stretches over a lot of categories)

Logistics                                $374.3 million     4.2%

Other services                        $296.7 million     3.3%

Scientific and technical           $245.4 million     2.8%

Accomodation/food service   $207.9 million     2.3%

Information                           $110.2 million      1.2%

Education services                $58.8 million        0.7% (guessing this is private school education)

Real estate and rental           $45.6 million        0.5%

Arts, entertainment               $32.2 million        0.4%

Farm compensation              $20.0 million        0.2%

Company management         $17 million           0.2%

Of course, when you look at growth, it’s a different story. Compensation in manufacturing has gone up 6 percent since 2001 and company management declined 32 percent. The hot growth industries are administrative and waste services, up 59 percent, health care, up 54 percent, and private educational services, up 49 percent.

Government copmensation has increased 33 percent. We can only compare logistics — transportation and warehousing — with 2005 and it was up naerly 24 percent since then.

January’s Belvidere assembly plant production

Add comment February 4th, 2010 05:12pm Alex Gary

Workers at Chrysler Group LLC’s Belvidere assembly plant churned out 8,668 Dodge Calibers, Jeep Compasses and Jeep Patriots in two weeks in January.

The plant was closed the first two weeks of the year. In January of 2008, workers finished just 4,752 vehicles as Chrysler, then under the control of Cerberus Capital Management, put the brakes quickly on production as the economy was in free fall.

All three of the products are to be phased out in 2012 and Italian carmaker Fiat, which now controls Chrysler, has pointedly not guaranteed the plant future product. But a blogger is speculating that changes could be announced at the plant well before 2012.

Toyota troubles mount

Add comment February 3rd, 2010 11:18am Alex Gary

Here’s a sampling of Toyota news from the Associated Press — a mix of good and bad as the Japanese automaker tries to deal with quality issues.

* Toyota is giving U.S. dealers up to $75,000 to win back customer trust in the wake of the accelerator pedal safety recall. The money is to help dealers extend service hours and provide car washes and other services.

* U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood confirmed the government is investigating potential electrical problems in Toyota vehicles.

*  The NHTSA also has received more than 100 complaints about brakes in Toyota’s Prius hybrid, which is not part of the 4.5 million vehicle accelerator pedal recall. Two of the complaints involved accidents resulting in injuries.

The troubles may not end up being confined to Toyota. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter to Elkhart, Ind.-based CTS, which made the defective pedals, notifying the company that it wants to investigate the pedals it makes for other automakers. CTS is a supplier to a wide swath of companies, including Honda, Nissan, Ford and Chrysler.